IS TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME SUPERIOR TO NET INCOME AS A MEASURE OF EARNINGS QUALITY?

Abstract

         The purpose of this research aims to examine the comparative ability of total comprehensive income and net income on earnings quality as measured by market-based and accounting-based information. The population was the listed companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) from the years 2011 to 2017. Secondary data was gathered via SETSMART and annual information filling (form 56-1). Descriptive and inferential statistics were implemented to analyze all variables as well as the relationship between total comprehensive income and net income with earnings quality.  The result indicates that total comprehensive income is slightly superior to net income for evaluating firm performance on stock return and stock price. Total comprehensive income is literally a more comprehensive and holistic view of a company's operations and other activities that are an integral component of its economics. Therefore, total comprehensive income is to provide useful information to support business decision making for financial users.  However, there is no significant association between these two incomes and earnings quality measured by cash flow index.